3 Budgets: Stocking Your Medicine Cabinet

Your muscles are aching from shoveling snow, you feel a sore throat coming on, and junior’s been up all night coughing. It’s enough to derail anyone’s work plans—especially when you have a presentation to deliver to a major client the next morning. In such situations, a well-stocked medicine cabinet can be your best friend—and career support.

“We need to know when we can suck it up, plow through the morning, and get to work that day versus (identifying) symptoms that will require medical attention,’” says Dr. Mark Gerard, M.D., who leads a private practice in Burbank, California catering to professionals and their families. Most upper-respiratory or intestinal ailments are viral, “so to jump on the phone and ask for antibiotics is not appropriate, nor is it good medicine for a doctor to prescribe antibiotics right away.” Ideally, you should give symptoms 24 hours before calling your doctor, unless there is very high fever, significant pain, or shortness of breath says Gerard, who is affiliated with Burbank-based Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center.

Much of this advice should come as no surprise, yet why are so many of us caught off guard? After all, it’s not a matter of “if” but “when” an ailment will strike. Gerard recommends “always being equipped with zinc lozenges, which you start taking right off the bat to decrease the duration of cold symptoms … Zinc appears to stimulate macrophages—cells in our immune system—that help fight off and disable the virus.” Echinacea and vitamin C may also help, however, studies haven’t always supported claims of effectiveness, he adds. Stomach churning before that morning meeting? Keep a packet of intestinal relief (pink bismuth) tablets handy that you can “throw into your purse” on the way out the door.

Drugstore visits can be expensive, but you can tailor your medicine cabinet purchases to fit your needs and your pocketbook.

Above all, be proactive: Try to follow a healthy lifestyle that incorporates adequate sleep, 30 minutes of daily exercise, and a diet rich in fruits and vegetables that provides the essential vitamins and minerals, says Gerard.

Drugstore visits can be expensive, but you can tailor your medicine cabinet purchases to fit your needs and your pocketbook. With input from Gerard and Dr. Peter Shulman of Valley Pediatric Medical Group in Encino, California, I’ve put together shopping lists for three different budgets, including ingredients for home remedies you may already have that could work in a pinch.

1. The Basics

Here are tips to some items you may want to always keep handy. Certain items can be replaced with simple alternatives, like cola for an upset stomach. “Let it go flat, and take two sips every 20 minutes until the nausea subsides,” advises Gregory W. Avale, pharmacist and manager at Horton & Converse pharmacy in Los Angeles. One “folk remedy” Gerard swears by: Two teaspoons each of lemon juice, honey, and apple cider vinegar added to hot water. The recipe is “helpful for sore throats and laryngitis; some studies have found that apple cider vinegar also stimulates the immune system,” he says.

2. Nice-to-Have

With the “Basics,” these items may prepare you for even more emergency mishaps.

The $146 Nice-to-Have Medicine Cabinet*

“Basics” items

Subtotal

$85

“Nice-to-Have” items

Aloe vera gel for skin irritations, 6 oz.

$3

Hydrocortisone cream or ointment for itching, 2 oz.

$5

Finger splint

$5

Iodine tincture / disinfectant, 1 oz.

$4

Reusable (ice) cold pack, 4” × 8,” kept in freezer

$6

Bandage scissors

$4

Sore throat lozenges, 18-ct

$4

Pain-relief patches for sprains, 40-ct

$5

Chewable antacid tablets, 90-ct

$5

Latex or latex-free gloves, 50- or 40-ct

$6

Gas relief tablets, 18-ct

$5

Stool softener, 30-ct

$4

Teas: Ginger for nausea / peppermint for gas and indigestion, 16-ct

$5

Subtotal

$61

Total

$146

3. Specialized

For people who like to be prepared for any emergency scenario, there are many items in the useful but optional category, such as a higher-end vaporizer to treat severe congestion, a tick-removal kit if you live in an area where Lyme disease is prevalent, and optional equipment like a stethoscope and blood pressure monitor.

“A professional stethoscope [is expensive], and the average person would not know how to use it,” says Avale. “Only if you are taking anti-hypertensive drugs should you be taking your blood pressure, or if you were told to do so by your doctor for other reasons.” Here, your super-prepared list, added to “Basics” and “Nice-to-Have.”

The $498 Specialized Medicine Cabinet*

“Basics” items

Subtotal

$85

“Nice-to-Have” items

Subtotal

$61

“Specialized” items

Clotrimazole anti-fungal cream, for athlete’s foot, ½ oz.

$7

Instant cold pack (package of eight)

$10

Higher-end tweezers

$20

Tick-removal kit

$5

**Blood pressure monitor

$15-$80

Higher-end vaporizer

$150

**Stethoscope

$80

Subtotal

$352***

Total

$498

Some items here may not suit your needs, so choose what makes sense for you and your family. Being prepared can reduce stress and assure peace of mind—and that may be the best remedy of all.

* Prices based on generic products advertised on retail sites including CVS.com and Walgreens.com.**Optional, with instruction by medical professional.***Factors in $80 blood pressure monitor

This article is provided for informational purposes only. Always discuss your health and any treatment options with your physician.